NEW YORK – The Nutmeg News has learned that Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer (MLS), is aggressively lobbying FIFA President Gianni Infantino behind the scenes to cancel the 2026 World Cup – scheduled to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico & Canada – as a result of that competition’s “unresolvable conflicts with MLS’s busy [2026] club tournament schedule.”
Garber generated public controversy in 2024 by suggesting that some or all MLS teams not participate in the U.S. Open Cup (USOC) – the oldest, and only fully-open, club tournament in the United States – in view of various other tournaments in which MLS teams participate, and for which MLS receives significantly more revenue. MLS insiders, speaking to The Nutmeg News on condition of anonymity, say that Garber has come to the realization that the 2026 World Cup tournament presents the same problem for MLS, which not only will have teams and players participating in league play in the summer of 2026, during the World Cup, but also have commitments to Leagues Cup and possibly later rounds of CONCACAF Champions Cup, as well as a newly-proposed “Saudi Aramco Petrodollars Tournament,” scheduled to be announced later in the year, at or near the time of the World Cup.
“Don has always been supportive of international play by MLS players,” said the anonymous MLS insider, “but the players’ union has forced his hand with all their demands for things like rest between matches and cutting back on excessive travel. In view of the [players’] union’s contract, [Garber] has reluctantly concluded the 2026 World Cup just can’t happen.”
Outside MLS observers believe that the real issue here is money. Although FIFA does pay clubs when their players participate in the World Cup – for 2022, FIFA paid clubs $10,000 per player per day for every time a club had a player who was called to their national squad for that tournament – Garber apparently finds these payments too low compared to the money MLS rakes in for US-based club tournaments, particularly when MLS teams are matched up with Liga MX teams from Mexico. Garber has apparently been lobbying FIFA for a “bonus solidarity payment” to MLS which would result in revenue to MLS equal to or exceeding the money MLS makes on club tournaments like Leagues Cup. In the words of one MLS observer, “did you see the ticket prices for the 2023 Leagues Cup [which were highly inflated in view of Lionel Messi’s appearance in the final]? Garber is looking for that kind of pay-out to MLS for the World Cup.”
Although Garber has yet to go public with his demands for World Cup cancellation, he apparently threatened Infantino with doing so “unless an accommodation can be made for MLS very soon.” FIFA is apparently deep in negotiations with Garber to resolve this conflict. There have been reports out of Zürich, Switzerland – the location of FIFA headquarters – of a U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo plane being loaded with numerous pallets of stacked Swiss Francs – leading some to believe a monetary settlement has been reached between MLS and FIFA and this dispute will never go public.
The Nutmeg News is following up on this story, as Garber is apparently working on a scheme to share FIFA’s largesse with MLS players – by offering a free (domestic) beer for all flights of more than 2 hours during league and tournament play travel.